The historic Jewish cemetery in Bielsko-Biala on
Cieszynska Street, has been in continuous
use for more than 150 years, including the German occupation
during World War II. In 1995, "Bear" - Historyczne Centrum Badawcze (Historical
Research Center), at the request of the Jewish
Denominational Community in Bielsko-Biala and the Irgun
Yots'e Bielsko-Biala in Israel, undertook a comprehensive
inventory of the cemetery. According to the most recent
findings, published in his The Jewish Cemetery in Bielsko-Biala
[Cmentarz Zydowski w Bielsku-Bialej] , it is estimated that between 3,500 and
3,600 people were laid to rest in the nearly six acres that
constitute the cemetery grounds.

Four sources were used in creating the database,
gravestones, vital records (death registrations), the
Chevra Kadisha funeral register and death/funeral announcements
from regional newspapers. The sources often used different
spellings of the names. As a result, all spelling variations
have been incorporated into the database.

The Bielsko cemetery, founded in 1849, is the only remaining
Jewish cemetery in the city of Bielsko-Biala. A second Jewish
cemetery, located in the then bordering town of Biala, was
established concurrently with the formal creation of separate
Jewish Denominational Communities in Bielsko and
Biala. The Bielsko Jewish community was progressive and
largely Reformed, while the Biala community was more
Orthodox. As a consequence, the Biala cemetery, located on
Wyzwolenia (Liberation) Street, conformed more to Orthodox
requirements (e.g. separate sites for men and women) and was
the final resting place for many of the Orthodox Jews from both
communities. The Biala cemetery was liquidated by Polish
authorities in 1966 over strong protests of the Jewish
Community; very few of the graves were exhumed and
transferred to the Bielsko cemetery. In all, about 2,000
people were buried in the Biala cemetery. After its liquidation,
the government built a sporting-goods production
facility on the site of the Jewish burial grounds.

The first Jews to acquire the right to reside in the area of
Slask Cieszynski (Teschen Silesia) lived in Cieszyn, where
in 1647 the first private Jewish cemetery, owned by Jakub Singer,
was established. During the reign of Empress Maria Theresa,
the cemetery was used by Jews living in nearby towns,
including Bielsko. With the 1849 outbreak of the plague in the
vicinity of Bielsko, followed by a ban on transporting corpses,
Adolf Brüll purchased a plot of land for a Jewish cemetery in
Aleksandrowice, Bielsko. A month later, the city was given
permission for opening the two Jewish "houses of
eternity."

After the official registration of the Jewish Community in 1865, the
ownership of the cemeteries was granted to the
Bielitzer Israelitische Cultusgemeinde. The ceremonial building
on the site of the Bielsko cemetery burned down in 1867 and
a second building, which still stands today, was completed in
1885 by Karol Korn, a local Jewish architect who was later
buried in the cemetery.

The Bielsko Hevra Kadisha (Burial Society), founded in 1902,
administered the cemetery until 1932, at which time
this responsibility was transferred to the Jewish
Denominational Community. In 1972, the
cemetery was taken over by the Polish government’s
Treasury Department. It wasn‘t until
1997, following the passage of legislation in
the Polish Parliament, that the Bielsko cemetery
was returned to the Jewish Community.

The cemetery contains two memorials to Jewish
soldiers from Bielsko-Biala and neighboring towns who
died in World War I and II. The World War I
memorial was constructed in 1929 and, despite being
severely damaged during World War II, has now been
restored. A memorial plaque in the ceremonial building
was unveiled in 2000, listing the names of those
Jewish soldiers from Bielsko and vicinity who
died in the Polish army during World War II.

World War II wreaked devastation
upon the Jewish communities in Bielsko and
Biala, as it did on Jewish communities throughout Europe. The synagogues in
both Bielsko and Biala were destroyed, and the magnificent
library and archive belonging to the Jewish
Community was burned. Today, the only
structural remnants of the Jewish Community, which
played a significant part in the city's development,
are the pre-war building at 22 Mickiewicz Street
and the cemetery with its ceremonial building.

The cemeteries survived the War, but they weren’t
spared serious damage and loss. Many gravestones
were stolen, especially those from the oldest
sector, from family vaults, and from along the
Aleja Zasluzonych (Avenue of the Righteous). Bielsko's honored
citizen Salomon Pollak, architect Karol Korn, the
first Bielsko rabbis, Lazar Frankfurter and
Lesser Wolf, bibliophile and collector Salomon
Halberstam, whose fame spread all over Europe,
city councilman Dr. Siegmund Markusfeld,
cantor Ignacy Goldmann, Professor Michael
Berkowicz - these and many other distinguished
individuals had their gravestones stolen.

Possibly influenced by the Austrian
culture of the period, bereaved Jewish families
in Bielsko throughout the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries often placed obelisks on the
graves of their loved ones. Surprisingly, there
are very few traditional matzevot - gravestones
characteristic of the Orthodox Jewish
communities. The most sought-after mason at the
time was Salomon Leiser Wulkan.

The most frequently encountered decorative carvings
in the Bielsko cemetery include the Star of David,
palms, crowns, blessing hands, pitchers, or
menorahs. This latter symbol occurs
exclusively on the gravestones of
women, who traditionally were
the lighters of Shabbat
candles.

The oldest gravestone
in the Bielsko cemetery is the matzevah of a
seventeen-year-old boy named Josef
Neumann, who died on 16 Elul 5609 of the
Hebrew calendar, or September 3, 1849.
The two oldest recorded members of
the Bielsko Jewish community were
Salomon Hamburger and Benjamin Falek.
Both lived to be 104 years of age and
both are buried in Bielsko. Hamburger
lived from 1771 to 1875 and Falek from
1896 to 2000.

The cemetery is divided into seven
sectors, with the most recent graves
located near the ceremonial building,
at the front of the cemetery facing
Cieszynska Street. The oldest section
is at the back of the cemetery grounds
bordering on Konopnicka Street.
The graves exhumed and transferred from
Biala are also located at the back
of the cemetery. There are sections
of the cemetery set aside for children
(under the age of 13) and for Jewish
soldiers who died in combat.

Legend:

Section A:
Newest section (currently in use and well maintained).
Section B: In
use from the
late 19th
century up to
ca 1920.
Section C:
Burials from
1900-20
(includes the
wealthier
members of the
community).
Section D:
Children's
section
(includes
graves from
the beginning
to World War
II). Section
E: Graves of
Jewish
soldiers who
died in World
War I. Section
F: Oldest
section of the
cemetery.
Section G:
Remains of the
graves
transferred
from the
former Biala
cemetery.

"Bear" - Historyczne Centrum Badawcze (Historical
Research Center) and JRI-Poland. In March 2002, Bear and
Jewish Records Indexing - Poland reached an agreement
to make available Internet-searchable indices to
6300 surviving gravestones in the cemetery.
These indices will also be available in
the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry.

Years of death in the indices are from 1849 to
1959, and thus provide 20th century genealogical
information not otherwise available due to lack of -
or inaccessibility to - death records.

For those who know of family buried in the
cemetery, these indices will be a welcome short
cut for finding graves and obtaining
further information. For others who
search the JRI-Poland database on a
regular basis, there may be an unexpected surprise of
finding family surnames and perhaps ancestors and
relatives in the Bielsko-Biala Jewish Cemetery.

The search process:

The indices to the matzevot in the Jewish
Cemetery in have been integrated into the JRI-Poland
database.

To narrow the
search, enter "Bielsko-Biala" in the "Town" field on the
JRI-Poland search page. If a match in the "Bielsko-Biala" Cemetery
database is found, it will be identified in a separate table in the
search results.

Following up on a successful JRI-Poland
search of indices of graves at the Jewish
Cemetery in Bielsko-Biala

To request information on a particular
grave or obtain photographs, fill out the
suggested Request for Information
Form

Surviving records less than 100 years old are held in the Civil Records Offices
(Urzad Stanu Cywilnego) of each town.

For information on the 20th century records available for your town, visit the
Routes to Roots
Foundation website, click on the 'SEARCH DATABASE' button (on the right side)
and enter the town name. Look for the town name in the Repository/City column of
the search results. There are typically links to lists of available births, marriage and death records for the town.

Note, however, the Routes to Roots Foundation database may indicate turn of the
century records that have already been transferred to the appropriate branch of
the Polish State Archives where they can be indexed for the JRI-Poland database.

JRI-Poland is an independent non-profit tax-exempt Organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

Under special arrangement, the JRI-Poland web site, mailing list, and database are hosted by JewishGen